FC: Philly dispatch: Librarian says that filters are Stalinist

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Photos from mccullagh.org:
http://www.mccullagh.org/theme/cipa-trial-spring02.html

Politech archive on CIPA (the federal filtering law in question):
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=cipa

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http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51501,00.html

   Full Assault on Filter Software
   By Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)
   
   6:15 a.m. April 3, 2002 PST
   PHILADELPHIA -- To librarian Anne Lipow, filtering software isn't
   merely a bad idea.
   
   Lipow told a panel of federal judges on Tuesday that Congress' attempt
   to force the use of anti-smutware in public libraries is positively
   Stalinist.
   
   "It smacks of authoritarianism," said Lipow, a library consultant in
   Berkeley, California, recalling that the former Soviet Union required
   patrons to acquire signatures from a local official before they could
   obtain certain materials.
   
   That's a not-so-oblique reference to the Children's Internet
   Protection Act, which is being challenged in court in a trial that
   began here last week. The law allows librarians to permit access to
   blocked websites -- but only after they review it and judge whether an
   adult patron has a "bona fide research" purpose.
   
   The filters cannot be overriden for anyone under 18 years old.

   [...]



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